NEW LONDON, Conn. – A furious second half rally came-up just short for the MIT men's basketball team in an 87-80 loss to the United States Coast Guard Academy on Thursday evening at Roland Gymnasium.
The Engineers trailed by as many as 20 points in the second half before cutting the deficit to one point with three and a half minutes remaining in regulation. However, the Bears used a 12-1 run to put the game out of reach.
THE BASICS:
- Score: Coast Guard 87, MIT 80
- Records: Coast Guard 5-11 overall (1-7 NEWMAC); MIT 5-12 overall (1-7 NEWMAC)
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Coast Guard opened the game with an 8-0 run including back-to-back triples from Trevor Parks and Ashton Kendall. MIT responded, moving back within one score at 15:58 when Rome Delgado-Gonzalez knocked down a three to make the score 10-7.
- The Bears continued to lead past the midway point of the first as six consecutive free throws pushed the Coast Guard advantage to 25-17 before another three from Park pushed the advantage into double digits, 28-17, at the 9:05 mark.
- Coast Guard continued to build its advantage, eventually leading by 20 points, 45-35, after Luke Farrell hit a three with 3:15 left before halftime.
- The Engineers started to work away at the deficit before the end of the first, scoring the final ten points of the first half to head into the break trailing 47-37.
- Coast Guard stretched its lead back 16 points through the opening portion of the first half, leading 56-40 at the 18:10 mark and 61-45 at 12:51, before MIT rallied to erase the deficit
- An Isaac Dobie triple at 9:17 would cut the MIT deficit to single digits, 65-56, for the first time since the first half, as the Engineers went to work over the next six minutes of play.
- Dobie scored 10 of his game-high 23 points over the next six minutes of play. A layup from the junior at 3:46 pulled MIT back within three points before Parker Spann hit the first of two free throws at 3:32 to cut the lead to one, 73-72.
- Unfortunately, the MIT rally was halted with the Engineers trailing by one as seven straight Coast Guard points pushed the Bears' advantage back to eight, at 80-72, with 1:53 left in regulation.
- Coast Guard stretched its lead back to 12 points when Kendall knocked down a pair of free throws inside the final minute before the hosts closed out the 87-80 victory.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Dobie and Kendall tied for game-high honors with 23 points while Spann added 21 points for the Engineers.
- Merlin Gogolin had a team-high seven rebounds for MIT.
- Coast Guard was 27-of-54 (50%) from the floor and 14-of-29 (48.3%) from three. MIT finished the contest 28-of-66 (42.4%) from field goal range and 12-for-35 (34.3%) from beyond the arc.
- Coast Guard scored 27 points off of 17 MIT turnovers while outscoring the Engineers 12-4 on the break.
- MIT had a 15-4 advantage in second chance points, as the Engineers finished the game with a 41-29 rebounding advantage.
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